


her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you

by Serie11



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Character Study, Domestic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/F, Nightmares, Post-Black Eagles Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:26:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27377932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serie11/pseuds/Serie11
Summary: Lysithea puts down her quill and creeps into the bedroom. Edelgard turns over in the bed and whimpers softly to herself. Lysithea goes to her side and sits at the edge of the bed, hand hovering over her shoulder uncertainly. They’ve shared a bed for years, but she still feels off balance whenever she has to deal with Edelgard’s night terrors.“Edie,” she whispers. “Edie, wake up.”
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/Lysithea von Ordelia
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42
Collections: Fic In A Box





	her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SharkDash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharkDash/gifts).



It’s not often that Lysithea is the one to be awake in the early hours of the morning. She likes to retire before everyone else and rise with the sun, to get things done in those early hours of the morning where everyone else is still in bed. She sees little point in staying up late just to drink and talk with others, even now that the war is over. 

But tomorrow there is a final draft that is going before the new assembly that has started to take shape around the new government, and Lysithea isn’t happy with it just yet. She reads over the second to last paragraph again, tapping her quill against her lips thoughtfully. Does that word go there…? No, she decides, and crosses it out. The parchment is covered in her notes and suggestions, which means that she’s going to have to write it out again before she can copy it perfectly using her magic. One of her more useful spells. It’s good to have back ups of everything if something happens to the one she’s working on. She still remembers a time in the Academy where Linhardt had spilled ink across all of her study notes for the term. He’d offered to rewrite them, and she’d made him do it before revealing that she had another copy back in her room. 

He’d passed that exam though, so her roundabout way of getting him to study had at least worked. 

The door to the outer sitting room creaks open, and Edelgard slides in softly. Lysithea spares a smile for her, but she’s still thinking about her wording, and what she needs to change. 

“Still hard at work,” Edelgard notes, going to the wardrobe in their dressing chamber. Lysithea’s train of thought is derailed as she shrugs her overcoat off and unbuttons her blouse. 

“Well, someone has to be,” she finally says, after a pause that is far too long. Embarrassed, she ducks her head and stares at the paper. Even after years of being together, just looking at Edelgard can distract her from anything else. 

“Of course,” Edelgard says, amused. 

“How was the meeting?” 

Edelgard snorts. “It’s generous to call it a meeting. There was little business talk. I think that Ferdinand could have managed it without me.” 

“Don’t let him hear you say that.” 

“He could take all such meetings,” Edelgard sighs. “I would much rather spend that time with you.” 

Lysithea is definitely blushing now. “And I, too. After I present this tomorrow, I don’t have anything planned for tomorrow night.” 

“Then I shall organise something for us to do together,” Edelgard says firmly. “And I know that everyone will recognise your hard work tomorrow.” 

“Yes,” Lysithea says. She  _ has  _ worked hard on this, and she knows that it’s a good idea. Still, there’s still a part of her that fears that it won’t be enough. “I have to write this out for a final time; you should go and get some rest.” 

“Do you need someone to read it over for you?” 

“You’ve already read it several times,” Lysithea smiles. “And it’s just small wording adjustments at this point. You can listen to me read it out in the morning.” 

“Very well,” Edelgard agrees. “Don’t stay up too late. I wouldn’t want to see you fall asleep in front of everyone.” 

“Ha…” Lysithea manages, trying not to think about that. “You’re saying funny things; you must truly need some sleep.” 

Edelgard kisses her on the top of her head as she passes by into their bedroom. Lysithea watches as the door closes most of the way, leaving a crack open. Edelgard doesn’t like to sleep in the dark, and Lysithea obligingly moves her candle so the light shines through it at the right angle. 

She reaches the end of the last paragraph and takes a moment to rub her hands against her face. It’s past the midnight hour certainly, and she still has to write this out. 

_ No time but the present, _ she thinks, and pulls a blank piece of parchment out of her drawer to start on. 

She’s on the fifth page when she hears the first sound from their bedroom. She pauses in the middle of a sentence, but after a few seconds of silence she keeps writing. She reaches the end of the page before she hears the next sounds, which is much clearer. 

Lysithea puts down her quill and creeps into the bedroom. Edelgard turns over in the bed and whimpers softly to herself. Lysithea goes to her side and sits at the edge of the bed, hand hovering over her shoulder uncertainly. They’ve shared a bed for years, but she still feels off balance whenever she has to deal with Edelgard’s night terrors. 

“Edie,” she whispers. “Edie, wake up.” 

She lays her hand on Edelgard’s shoulder, and she wakes with a gasp, sitting up and dislodging Lysithea from the bed. 

“...ow,” Lysithea says from the floor, before gathering herself to stand. 

“Sorry,” Edelgard murmurs. The moon is full enough that the light spills through the open window and casts shadows across the muscles in her arms. 

“No matter,” Lysithea says. She dusts herself off. “Are you okay?” 

Edelgard lets out a shuddering breath. “Yes. I…” She runs her hands through her hair, and Lysithea takes a loose half up and begins to braid it to do something with her hands while reminding Edelgard that she’s here. 

Lysithea doesn’t know how long they sit there. Edelgard stares at her hands that are folded in her lap, and Lysithea braids, undoes, and then rebraids her hair. 

“Do you think they’ll ever stop?” Edelgard finally asks. 

“I don’t know,” Lysithea replies. “You used to have them a lot more often than you do now.” 

Edelgard nods once. “It’s silly, but… I thought that after we won, and everything was done, that maybe they’d stop. That after we finally put a stop to those horrible things, I wouldn’t have any nightmares anymore.” 

“If only it could be that easy,” Lysithea says quietly. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“You don’t need to hear it too,” Edelgard says. “And you’ve heard it all, anyway.” 

They’ve shared their dreams; both the good and the bad. Lysithea might be one of the only people who really can understand what Edelgard went through. And this is hardly one sided. Lysithea wakes Edelgard up just as often as Edelgard wakes her. 

“Even so,” Lysithea says, but doesn’t push it. There’s few things that can change Edelgard’s mind once she’s made it up, and this is definitely not something worth fighting her over. “Do you want something to drink?” 

“I can get something,” Edelgard says. “Have you finished the transcript?” 

“Not yet,” Lysithea says, and Edelgard shoos her away. 

“What are you doing sitting with me in the middle of the night? Go and finish so you can come to bed.” 

Lysithea goes back to her writing desk, and Edelgard disappears into the main room. She hears the clinking of glassware as she picks her quill up again, and reshuffles her papers to find where she was last up to. 

Edelgard comes back into the room and sits in the other chair at the desk, the shoulder strap of her shift falling down as she leans forward. Lysithea watches as she absently pulls it back up, her eyes tracing over the fresh copy that Lysithea has made. 

“There’s more changes made since I last reviewed these,” Edelgard mutters. “How much more do you have left to write?” 

“Half a dozen pages,” Lysithea admits, and Edelgard clucks her tongue at her. 

“Give me a page to copy, then,” Edelgard says. “I’ll help.” 

“You don’t have to help,” Lysithea protests. 

“I won’t have you faltering because I could have stood by you,” Edelgard tells her. “And I can copy text as well as you can.” 

“Well,” Lysithea says. “Start on this page then; I’ll make several copies of the final text when we’re done so we can distribute them to everyone tomorrow before the reading.” 

Edelgard takes the page that she offers her, and they work together in silence. Lysithea has to light another candle before they’re done. Edelgard’s handwriting is loopier than hers is, but it will do for a first draft to be approved. 

“There,” Edelgard says as she blows over the last page. Lysithea takes it from her and dusts some sand over it to dry it completely. “Is that all?” 

“Yes,” Lysithea says, relief bubbling in her chest. She flips the pages into order and checks them all to make sure that nothing is missing. When she goes to get a pile of blank pages to copy them on to, she finds a pile already by her elbow, and a small smirk on Edelgard’s face. “Thank you,” she says softly, and then puts one hand over the blank paper, and one over the finished copy. 

With a string of words and a burst of light, the blank pages are suddenly covered with ink. Edelgard takes the papers and replaces them with new blank ones, and Lysithea takes a breath to centre herself before she copies the papers again. 

With a dozen piles of paper on the desk, Lysithea finally feels like she’s ready for tomorrow. Or at least, later today. She stretches her arms out over her head, yawning widely. 

“Good job,” Edelgard says. 

“Yes,” Lysithea says, satisfied. “This should be enough for our needs.” 

“Then it truly is time for bed,” Edelgard says wryly. 

“I definitely agree with you,” Lysithea says, rubbing her eyes. She blows out the candle, and Edelgard takes her hand in the dark to lead them back to their bed. “You could have gone to sleep earlier, you know.” 

“Maybe I was just being selfish,” Edelgard murmurs. “After all, I sleep best with you by my side.” 

Glad that the darkness can hide the flush in her cheeks, Lysithea just tweaks the curtains so the moonlight can spill inside their room, and then goes to curl up in the bed with Edelgard. Edelgard wraps her arm around Lysithea’s shoulders, and Lysithea closes her eyes contentedly as she curls against Edelgard’s chest. 

“Good night,” Lysithea whispers. 

She doesn’t need to see Edelgard to hear the smile in her voice. “Good night, Lys.” 


End file.
